On Mobius
The villainous Dr. Eggman was at it again. The mad doctor had collected all of the seven Chaos Emeralds for one of his "conquer the world" schemes. Sonic and his friends would usually handle this, but this time, GUN sent Team Dark to assist the Blue Blur in securing the Emeralds.
Shadow the Hedgehog was currently skating towards Eggman's current stronghold. Several armed Badniks stood along the outside of the stronghold's gate firing their weapons at the black and red hedgehog. Shadow used Chaos Spear to destroy the attacking robots.
Next, Shadow used his Rocket Skates to launch himself over the wall and into the main courtyard. Dozens of robots ran towards him firing their weapons. From the corner of his eye, he could see his teammates Rouge the Bat and Omega enter the compound from the opposite side. Shadow smiled at the success of his teammates.
"Now to distract the doctor for Sonic and the others," Shadow said.
But before he could start fighting Eggman's forces, a familiar blue blur immediately destroyed the robots. Sonic stood before Shadow with his trademark smirk.
"Hey, how's it going, Shadow?" he asked.
"Hmph! I can handle Robotnik's robots by myself," Shadow said with his usual bravado. "I don't need help with a few measly Badniks."
"Nice to hear how grateful you are, buddy!" Sonic said patting Shadow on the back.
"Anyway, where are the rest of your friends?"
"They're already within the tower making their way up."
"Just save the Chaos Emeralds for me".
"Sure! Race ya!"
Sonic took off towards the central tower with high speed. Shadow followed him all the way up the tower until they both reached the lab before the rest of their friends.
Eggman was awaiting them there, standing next to a large ring-shaped object elevated high off the ground. The machine had all of the seven Chaos Emeralds contained within the innermost part of it. The mad doctor gave his signature chilling grin once he was face to face with the heroic Mobians.
"Greetings, Sonic and ignoramus friends!" Eggman greeted. "I'm so glad you could be here! I was just about to test something."
"Just what exactly are you planning this time, doctor?" Sonic demanded.
"You see, there's a little problem with our relationship, Sonic: you always win!" Eggman replied. "But that all changes starting today!"
"What does your machine do, doctor?" Shadow asked.
"I actually got the inspiration from you, Shadow! You know how you can teleport using Chaos Control?" Eggman replied. "Well, this machine uses the Chaos Emeralds' energy to transport any target to another world!"
"And let me guess: you plan to use it on us!" Tails said.
"Not all of you, just Sonic. With him out of the way, I can finally build my glorious Eggman Empire!!" Eggman replied with a laugh.
"Not if we take the Emeralds out of your machine before you can use it!" Sonic said.
Sonic used his Spin Dash to attempt to smash the glass housing the Emeralds, but there was no damage at all! The entire team was shocked to say the least. Doctor Eggman just laughed.
"How do you like my diamond-based glass, rodent?" You won't be able to use brute force to break it!" he said with a mocking tone.
"Then we'll just have to tear the machine apart until they fall out!" Knuckles said.
Eggman pulled out a speaker hidden in his right sleeve. "All troops, converge on the lab! We have intruders!!"
Suddenly, the room was filled with armed Badniks and Egg Swats. Sonic and his team would have to take on the oncoming robot hordes until they could retrieve the Emeralds. But as the team was fighting off Eggman's forces, Shadow noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
Eggman was turning the ring machine in different directions. A bright rainbow-colored portal formed within the center of the ring. And it was aimed right at Sonic!
"And now, my formidable adversary, it's time to say 'goodbye'!" Eggman shouted before firing a beam form the ring.
"Sonic! Look out!" Shadow said.
As Sonic turned around, the beam was just about to hit him. But Shadow teleported over to Sonic and pushed him out of the way of the beam. Shadow felt the beam strike him in the back with enough force that he went flying backwards. As Shadow was losing consciousness, he looked at Sonic with a small smile.
"Be faster next time, blue," Shadow thought before sleep took him.
Canterlot High School - Football Field at Nighttime
Sunset Shimmer had a lot on her mind. In fact, she hadn't paid attention to Rainbow Dash as she was absolutely decimating the other team at football. It was a thought that haunted her throughout the entire day.
"Sunset? Sunset?" Applejack asked gently shaking Sunset's shoulder.
"Huh? What-what?" Sunset asked.
"You seem a bit distracted today," Twilight asked.
"Well, I've been thinking about something I want to try," Sunset replied.
"Ooooooooh, what is it?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I... I want to try starting a group of friends made up of former villains," Sunset replied.
That response made the other members of her friend group look at her with wide eyes. They did not expect to hear something like that. A friend group made up of former villains? Their kneejerk reaction was to think that the idea was crazy. But Sunset had proven to them that redemption was indeed possible. Besides, how many of their new friends were once crazy villains themselves?
"That sounds like a good idea, darling!" Rarity said.
"Yeah, a friend group of people with common ground is certainly something that could work," Twilight said.
"Do you have anyone in mind to join this group?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, Wallflower Blush and Juniper Montage are definitely on my list, but I kind of want to explore outside options," Sunset said.
"'Outside options'? Like who?" Rainbow asked.
"You may not like it, but I was thinking of extending the hand of friendship to the Sirens," Sunset replied.
"The Sirens?!" the others shouted collectively.
"Why would you want to have them as friends?" Applejack asked with venom in her voice.
Sunset raised an eyebrow at all of them. "How many of our friends, including me, are former villains? Besides, the Sirens can't regain their former power, so it should be safe".
"While that's true, what makes you think they'd want to be friends with the ones who defeated them?" Rarity asked.
"Look, maybe they want to put the past behind them and be friends and maybe they'll reject my offer," Sunset said. "All I can do is try".
The other Rainbooms seemed to be considering this. The worst thing the Dazzlings could do was say no. They don't have their former Siren powers so interacting with them should be safe. And who knows? Maybe they can find it in themselves to be redeemed like Sunset.
"Well, even if they say no, we'll support you all the way," Twilight said.
"We're going to be right there for you if you need us," Fluttershy said.
"Thanks, girls," Sunset said.
After a group hug, the other Rainbooms all went home for the night, leaving Sunset all by herself outside the vacant football field. Taking this isolation as an opportunity to think, Sunset walked around the football field trying to think about how to ask the Dazzlings to join her villainous friend group.
"Maybe I can just ask them if they want to join?" Sunset wondered to herself. "Maybe I should ask them if they want to be friends first. Or I could take them out to lunch and get them in a talkative mood".
All of these options seemed viable, but Sunset couldn't accurately predict how the Dazzlings would react. Sonata may be more open to accepting friendship, Aria may just not care, and Adagio just may reject her outright. But either way, some of them would be better than none of them.
Before she could ponder the matter further, a bright light suddenly flared overhead in the center of the football field. From within the light, something emerged from it before landing on the ground. A shocked Sunset looked over at what exactly just came out of the light. She couldn't identify what she was seeing at all.
A short furry creature with black and red fur and quills lay on the ground sleeping. Sunset cautiously approached the creature to get a better look at it. It was male, had a white patch of chest fluff, gloves, rings around his wrists and ankles, and strange-looking shoes on his feet. His rising and falling chest indicated that he was indeed alive.
Suddenly, the creature's eyes shot open and fixed themselves on Sunset. Sunset leapt back with a start, scooting away from the creature on her hands and feet. The creature meanwhile, got up to his feet and looked around with a look of confusion. He then turned his eyes to Sunset and began to walk towards her. The creature gazed into Sunset's eyes with his own glowing red ones.
"What is this place?" he asked in a dark voice.
"Th-this is Earth. The city of Canterlot," Sunset replied quietly.
"Then I'm not on Mobius anymore. This is going to be annoying," Shadow thought to himself.
"I-if you d-don't mind me asking, who are you?" Sunset asked.
"It's Shadow. I am Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow replied.
"Nice to m-m-meet you," Sunset replied. "My name is Sunset Shimmer".